Kudolf dolge



' (No Model.)

R. DOLGE. HARP. No. 575,638. Patented Jan. 19, 1897-.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

RUDOLF DOLGE, OF NE\V YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO THE C. F. ZIMMERMANNCOMPANY, OF DOLGEVILLE, NEW YORK.

HARP.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 575,638, dated January19, 1897.

Application filed May 5, 1896. Serial No. 590,347. (No model.)

10 whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, RUDOLF DOLGE, a citizen of the UnitedStates,residing at New York, in thecounty and State of New York, haveinvented new and useful Improvements in l larps, of which the followingis a specification.

The object of this invention is to obtain a bar or manual for stringedmusical instruro ments, such as harps, citherns, or the like, which baror manual enables a considerable variety of effects to be produced inregard to the format-ion or variation of chords or the execution ofmovements; and the invention I 5 resides in the novel features ofconstruction set forth in the following specification and claims, andillustrated in the annexed drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a sideelevation of a bar or manual. Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view ofFig. 1. Fig. 3 shows a modification.

The bar or manual 1 carries dampers orcont actors 6. Each damper orcoutactor (3 is movable by itself independently of all the others. Ahandle or finger-piece 1% is provided for each damper or cont actor. Bythis arrangement variations or changes in chords or intervals can beproduced, such, for example, as from major to minor, diminished and 0augmented,orobliquemotion canbe executed, as desired. Supposing a bar ormanual having such dampers to be moved by its handle 13 or by anysuitable pedal or appliance to bring the dampers into action, thedampers 3 5 being arranged chromatically or at half-tone or semitoneintervals, all the strings or notes will be dampened or muted. Thenactuating a handle 1% to free a damper, for example,

that of O, this note or string will be free to sound; also, by freeingthe tenth damper from the O-damper the note A or the major interval C Awill be freed. Then by leaving said tenth damper to return into actionor damping position and freeing an adjoining damper, as the ninth oreleventh damper, the interval will become minor or augmented, as, forexample, 0 A fiat or O A sharp, or by holding said ninth or A-flatdamper out of action and leaving said first or O-damper return intoaction or damping posit-ion while freeing the adjoining or second orO-sharp damper the interval is diminished to O-sharp A-flat.

By successively freeing, for example, the first and fifth, the first andsixth, the first and seventh dampers, and so on, oblique 5 5 movement,as, for example, the sounding of intervals or notes C E, C F, O F sharp,and so on, is effected.

By locating the individually-movable dam pers or contactors 6alternately on opposite 6o sides of bar or manual 1 the dampers orcontactors can be compactly placed without interfering with one another.

Instead of having the dampers G such (1ampers might be replaced by picksor sounders for causing a string or note to speak instead of muting thenote.

The dampers or contactors 6 upon the freeing of handles or keys 14 canbe allowed to return by their weight or by returnin g-sprin gs (notshown) applied in any suitable way.

Of course the device is not limited to the exact construction shown, asmodifications can be made which are within the scope of the invention.For example, the manual, bar, or support 1 instead of having the keys orhandles 14 on a level, as indicated in Fig. 1, can have the keys ondifferent levels and colored, as shown, for example, in Fig. 3, wherethe low keys or handles 14 by being white and thehigh keys orbuttons 14by being black, as in a piano, the playing of the instrument or theselection of the notes to be freed can be readily effected by onefamiliar with a piano-keyboard.

- What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A support bar or manual made movable toward and from the strings ofan instrument, and provided with dampers or contactors each movableindependently of all the others and each provided with an individualhandle substantially as described.

2. A support bar or manual provided with dampers 0r contactors eachmovable inde- 5 pendently of all the others and alternately arranged onopposite sides of the bar or manual substantially as described.

3. A support bar or manual provided with dampers or contactors havingtheir handles IOO on different levels and each movable independently ofall the others substantially as described.

-l. A support bar or manual provided with dampers or eontaetors havingtheir handles on different levels and variously colored and each movableindependently of all the others substantially as described.

